The embodiments of the present invention relate to a smart cap for dispensing medicine from a medicine bottle. The inventor, Mr. Doug Veltri, is passionate about bringing smart technology to medicine bottles and in particular, medicine bottle caps, to provide a better, safer, and more effective means of dispensing medicine. It is well known in the art that medicine bottles include instructions on a label on the surface of the bottle. The instructions commonly include difficult to read texts that are too small, too brief, and generally not helpful. Senior citizens and others with impaired vision have a difficult time reading and understanding these instructions. This raises a public safety concern as it is critically important for individuals especially senior citizens to take their medicine at a certain time, day, and prescribed dosage. In addition, it is well known in the art that once a medicine cap has been removed from the medicine bottle, it is difficult to control the number of pills being dispensed. For example, some caps are so difficult to open that once they are opened, the medicine spills out that a volcanic event causing the pills to spew over the counter and floor. There is a need for smarter medicine bottle caps in the marketplace.
Mr. Veltri was the sole inventor on U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,694 (“the '694 patent”), which issued on Jun. 18, 1995, and is related to a dispensing cap for medicine bottles. However, the subject patent application includes improvements to the technology in the '694 patent and technical features materially different to the technical details described in the '694 patent.
There continues to be a need for smart technology in the medicine bottle cap field that will help a person take medicine at a certain time and prescribed dosage. In addition, there is a need to control the amount of medicine being dispensed from a medicine bottle.